The postmodern conviction that meaning is indeterminate and self is an illusion though fascinating and defensible in theory leaves a number of scholarly and pedagogical questions unsatisfied. Authoringtheampnbsp phenomenological act or felt sense of creating a textis a remarkably black box say Haswell and Haswell yet it should be one of the central preoccupations of scholars in English studies. Not only can the study of authoring accommodate the social turn since postmodernism they argue but it accommodates as well conceptions of and the lived experience of personal potentiality and singularity. ampnbspampnbspampnbspampnbspampnbsp Without abandoning the value of postmodern perspectives Haswell and Haswell use their own perspective of authorial potentiality and singularity to reconsider staple Englishstudies concerns such as gender evaluation voice character literacy feminism self interpretation assessment signature and taste. The essay is unique as well in the way that its authors embrace often competing realms of English studies drawing examples and arguments equally from literary and compositionist research. ampnbspampnbspampnbspampnbspampnbsp In the process the Haswells have created a Big Idea book and a critique of the field. Their point is clear the singular personmysterious black boxauthor merits deeper consideration than we have given it and the books crafted and woven explorations provide the intellectual tools to move beyond both political divisions and theoretical impasses.